


Seedlings

by VoidGhost



Series: Widofjord Week 2k19 [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Insecurity, Jealousy, M/M, POV Nott (Critical Role), Pining, Protective Nott (Critical Role), Widofjord Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 20:24:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19258564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoidGhost/pseuds/VoidGhost
Summary: Nott knew more things than she’s given credit for. She keeps most of those things close to her chest.One thing she knew that she found out all by herself (without Jester, even!) was what Caleb refused to tell her.





	Seedlings

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2: insecurity! 
> 
> this is a story that's building - the last two days will be our honored boys' povs! we get to see all the build-up until then ;)
> 
> hope yall enjoy~

Nott knew more things than she’s given credit for. She keeps most of those things close to her chest. 

One thing she knew that she found out all by herself (without Jester, even!) was what Caleb refused to tell her. 

She wasn’t against  _ sharing  _ Caleb, per se, but she wasn’t all for allowing him near  _ everybody _ . Their little group among the Nein was safe - Nott could reliably trust almost everybody. But the key word was  _ almost _ . 

She didn’t like it when she noticed Caleb hanging around Fjord more often. She didn’t like it when he would casually touch Fjord the way he never touches anybody. Brushing shoulders, knees bumping under the table. Caleb even began seeking Fjord out the most when he would look through Frumpkin.

Caleb liked Fjord. Not in a, ‘Nott liked Caleb way’, but in a, ‘Veth liked Yeza’ way. 

Nott didn’t like Fjord. And as far as she could tell, she didn’t think Fjord liked Caleb, which was honestly a bigger offence than returning his feelings (who  _ didn’t  _ like her boy?). Fjord was a closed book (however Jester managed to convince herself he was like the charming Oskar would always be a mystery to Nott) and she could never tell how he felt about these little affections Caleb gave him. If he even noticed them. 

The fact of  _ not knowing  _ kept her from talking to Fjord about it. On one hand, if he returned the feelings, she would enjoy giving him a good-old fashioned shovel talk and watching his face turn different shades of green (she had a talk prepared when Luc was born, it was just a matter of replacing the names). On the other hand, if he didn’t return Caleb’s affection, then she just outed her boy and there would no doubt be tension between the two for a while. 

Maybe she should talk to Caleb instead. That was just a question on whether he wanted to talk about it. Nott was nosy, but she wasn’t going to push for answers he didn’t want to share.

During their time in the Xhorhouse, Caleb had been spending more and more time with the Shadowhand. Nott doesn’t mind this at all - in fact, she’s happy Caleb has found a friend to talk about books with! - but it makes him hard to get alone. 

She was on her way to visit Caleb at the library, hoping that Essek had left by now, but as Nott turned the corner to the hallway that held the library, she saw Fjord in the doorway. She paused, watching from a distance. From the odd angle, she could see his face was pinched tight, something stiff and uncomfortable in his stance. He murmured something that Nott couldn’t hear before hurrying back down the hall. He paused briefly as he saw her, but didn’t hesitate long before disappearing around the corner. 

Curious, Nott took careful steps towards the open door of the library. As she approached, she heard a low chuckle. 

“Interesting friends you have, standing in the doorway and then leaving.”

“Ah, well, I can’t quite explain what everyone gets up to.” 

The conversation switched from Fjord’s abrupt approach back to notes about magical things that Nott doesn’t understand. Keeping herself low to the ground, she peered into the room. 

It was a mediocre sight; tomes and journals were open on the table, scattered pages of notes littering the surface. Essek and Caleb were hard at work; Essek read from his tome as Caleb scribed what he saw, the floating globules of light keeping the images and notes clear. She did notice something, however, and perhaps it is what Fjord saw: the way that Essek leaned close to look over Caleb’s shoulder, or how he occasionally set a hand atop of Caleb’s to show him how to write a particularly tricky rune. Nott, who had experience flirting and being flirted with, clearly saw the little moments that Caleb had been trying so hard on Fjord. 

Speaking of…  

Quietly and out of sight, Nott slipped away and followed wherever she saw Fjord disappear to.

She found him sulking in his room, though he’d deny that when she teased him about it later. Fjord stood at the open window with his hands on the sill, watching nothing but the dark sky and the drow below. 

Not bothering on being stealthy, she entered the room and crawled up on his bed, finding a comfortable perch on one corner. Fjord looked back over his shoulder and sighed. 

“What do you want?”

“I have a question, and I want you to be honest.” 

Fjord did not turn around, but she saw his hands tighten on the edge of the windowsill. 

“And why would I do that for you?”

“Because I know you also have a question, and I have the answer.”

Fjord did not reply. Instead, he turned around, leaning against the edge of the window and crossing his arms. A slight tilt of his head indicated for Nott to continue. 

“Back there, at the library,” Nott said, and watched Fjord avert his eyes. “Did you think Essek and Caleb were flirting?”

Maybe it was the lack of judgement in her voice, or the promise she made, but either way, Fjord scowled. 

“You saw it too,” He said, not as a question, but a statement, as if proving he was right. “What gives? Doesn’t he know that Essek is most likely going to turn on us the first moment he gets?” 

That didn’t occur to Nott, but that wasn’t the point of this conversation. She shook his head before he was done talking. “That’s not what I meant.” 

Fjord fixed her with a hard look but didn’t give in. “Then what did you mean?”

Nott resisted the urge to jump right into the shovel talk. Instead, she said, “What I mean is that if Caleb wanted me to, I would totally set him up with Essek and push the rest of you nosy fucks away to let them have some alone time. I would probably recruit Jester to help me.” In all honesty, she would do this even if Caleb didn’t ask her to. 

As she spoke, Fjord’s mouth tightened into a thin line that was not unlike the Shadowhand’s usual unimpressive expression. His fingers tightened where they gripped his biceps. Nott usually enjoyed pushing the half-orc’s buttons, but today he was just frustrating her. 

If she knew about this sooner, something might have been done by now.

“But I’m not going to,” She finished, Fjord watching her intently. “Because Caleb isn’t interested in Essek like that.” 

His eyes widened, briefly surprised, before dropping back into suspicion. His body, however, relaxed. “How do you know that?”

“I just do.”  _ Now  _ she enjoyed that flash of irritation that crossed his face. 

There was a pause. Then, “You said you have an answer for me.” 

“I do.” And this is where she drops from the bed and makes her way towards the door. “I just wanted to let you know that, all the tricks Essek has been playing on Caleb - the flirting, touching, whatever--” She paused in the doorway to look back. “--Caleb’s been doing all that on  _ you  _ for  _ weeks _ .”

She stayed just long enough to catch his jaw slacken in shock. Giggling to herself, Nott trotted off down the hallway. 

She can’t  _ wait  _ to tell Jester about this.


End file.
